Anonymous

God is not named in the Book of Esther. Esther is a young Jewish girl who winds up in the harem of the Persian king and wins a, uh, “beauty” contest to become the queen. Some have suggested that both “Esther” and “The Song of Solomon” should be removed from the Canon of Scripture. I will admit that I did, at one point, wonder how “The Song of Solomon” got by the censors. But Esther is different. In fact, until someone pointed it out, I did not realize that God’s name does not appear in any form. The assumption of His presence is so obvious that the absence of a direct mention never occurred to me.

God is seen in Esther’s story, but He is anonymous. It’s rather like in the story of Joseph where the brothers throw him into a dry well, and, as they are trying to figure out what to do with him, a caravan of traders “just happen” to come by and Joseph ends up in Egypt. So, too, Mordecai, Esther’s cousin and adoptive father, “just happens” to learn of a plot to assassinate the king. Later, the king can’t sleep and “just happens” to have his scribes read from the chronicles where he is reminded of the plot and of the fact that he owes his life to Mordecai the Jew. He also learns that Mordecai received nothing for his loyal service. It “just happens” that Mordecai’s mortal enemy, Haman, is entering the court at that very moment. The king asks Haman, who knows nothing of what is being discussed, “What should be done for the man whom the king wishes to honor?”

In his pride, Haman thinks the king is referring to him, so he launches on an elaborate, over-the-top scenario. When Haman finishes, the king says, “That’s a great idea. Now, you go do exactly that for Mordecai the Jew.”

JWM, on his World-Famous Blog, was talking about coincidences and started me on this thought. Just as with Esther and Joseph, most of us, if we stop to consider it, recognize that something seems to be going on. The events in our lives appear to be guided rather than random. Now the materialist will argue against this pointing out that such superstition arises because people tend to notice when something hits but not when it misses. My mother used to say, upon hearing thunder at this time of the year, “Thunder in February, frost in May.” Actually, around here, February thunder is not that uncommon while May frosts are – but if it happened once, no doubt Mom’s belief would be confirmed, similar to her belief in following the “signs” in the Almanac for planting. My father was a skeptic. The theory goes, for example, that you are supposed to plant root crops – potatoes, carrots, turnips, etc. – in the dark of the moon. Dad’s inevitable response was, “I think they do better if you plant them in the ground.”

But we are not talking about old wives’ tales. Many of us have seen God work in our lives through extraordinary circumstances. Excuse me if I have related this story before. I couldn’t find it in the archives. Years ago, I quit my job and moved to a small town in Texas to help rebuild a church. I think I was doing God’s will. After a couple of months in a less than booming economy, I found what I considered to be a temporary position, making very little money, well below what I was qualified to do. We wanted to buy a house in the community. We had some money to put down but as I was in a different line of work, we had to do a lease option. The lease was only good for a couple of months, at which time we would have to get a loan or move on.

Jobs in my field were hard to come by at that time. One day I drove over to a neighboring town to the library and read through the paper. An ad jumped out at me. It was calling for my specific skills. It was almost as if it had been written for me. This was on Tuesday. I hurried home, and we put together a resume and cover letter which I sent the next day – Wednesday. The month ended on Sunday and with it the window to exercise our lease option. I needed to be on the job for at least a month. This was a last chance to get back to my regular line of work, qualify for a loan, and close in time to avoid another expensive, undesirable move. On Thursday night a man called and asked if I could come up Friday afternoon and interview.

My wife rode up with me and waited in the car, praying, while I went up to the eleventh floor. They gave me a little test, and I talked to three or four people. Finally I came back into the room with the first man who interviewed me. I really expected that he would tell me they would think it over and let me know. Instead he said, “How much did you make at your old job.” I told him. “Things are more expensive here,” he observed and then asked if I thought a twenty-five percent increase would be about right. I said, yes, as calmly as possible. “One more question,” he said. “Is there any way you could start Monday?”

“I can do that.”

We got the loan and went on from there. I got my next job in a similar, equally timely fashion. Later, we sold a house in one day. We wanted to move across country again. I turned in my resignation, and I didn’t have a job in the new location until three days before we loaded the truck. I got it sight unseen because a guy I had worked with five years before “just happened” to be the hiring authority at a business in a town near the one to which we were moving.

Coincidence? Sure. If it makes you more comfortable to think that I’m unbelievably lucky or gifted I probably can’t convince you otherwise – no matter how many synchronicities I can relate. I know better. I know my life has been guided. Jesus said the Way is strait and narrow – not straight. It’s sometimes like walking a razor’s edge but it is not without its bends, blind corners, hills and valleys. Even when I am blind to my destiny, even when I am stupid, the Lord continues to move me along the road and have me in the right place at the right time.

When Paul went to Athens, he saw the many altars to many gods, and one, even, inscribed "TO THE UNKNOWN GOD". The Athenians were superstitious and fearful of offending a god they knew nothing about. They thought that, possibly, an Unknown God might be more powerful than the gods they named. And Paul thought, "Cool."